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Sophie Gray

Local Journalism Initiative

The Osoyoos Food Bank is feeling the love as donations are soaring for those in need during these trying times.

Diane Zorn, distribution coordinator for the Osoyoos Food Bank said in a phone call Tuesday that she is amazed at the generosity of the community over the last few weeks. Donations of both money and food have been pouring in, helping the Food Bank to serve their increasing number of customers.

“It’s really, truly overwhelming, the amount of response of people wanting to help and to donate,” said Zorn. “Donations have definitely increased, monetary and food both. It just really warms our hearts to see how many people have stepped up. It’s amazing, truly amazing.”

On top of normal donations, the Food Bank recently partnered with the FoodMesh program which connects food banks with local grocery stores. Through this program, the grocery stores are able to supply the food bank with fresh produce that doesn’t look nice enough to sell in stores but is perfectly edible. The Osoyoos Food Bank is part of this program on a trial basis with AG Foods, which gives them enough to provide for the roughly ten clients who are in dire need of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Local restaurants are stepping up as well. Zorn said that although they’ve only received two donations from restaurants in the last week, many that have been forced to close have donated what they could over the last few weeks.

These efforts, said Zorn, allow the Food Bank to stay stocked unlike many others around the country right now. Zorn said they are anticipating more clients than normal who need access to the Food Bank and are glad that they are able to still access all needed supplies.

Zorn said that as a result of the amount of stock and the increasing needs of the community, the Food Bank has extended their emergency services to help those who are stuck. Zorn said this service has always been offered on a smaller scale, but their service has been recently expanded.

“We just realize there must be many more people who don’t know where to turn and I hope they think of us and know that we will answer that need,” said Zorn.